Disabling self-closing mechanism on self-closing doors

CreNaCille

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I want to stop my self-closing doors from closing. They have a chain mechanism in the door which pulls them closed once opened.

Does anyone know what the best way of disabling this chain mechanism is?
 
If you live in an apartment block self closing doors are required by the building regulations for fire prevention. I believe you are not supposed to disable them.
 
If these are doors in your house, then they are fire doors that are ment to remain closed.

By remaining closed they give the occupants of the bedrooms valuable time to escape/stay clear of smoke in the event of a fire.

If these doors are open during a fire then the (sleeping) occupants may be overcome with smoke before anybody has a chance to wake them.

My opinion, you would be putting lives at risk by disabling the mechanism. It is there for a reason.

Others with more knowledge (I believe there is a poster here who is involved in fire safety) will add to this.
 
required by building regs....Bugga.....Maybe I shouldn't have whacked mine off with a club hammer so.....although not an issue unless I sell or rent I guess

FYI the chain broke at the hinge and the weight just falls into door

Now anyone know how much to replace about 8 doors/refit chain mechanism?

Paddy
 
are they embedded into the door and frame? they are a real nuisance and as far as i am concerned dangerous. its very easy to catch your hand on the door. You can release the fixing from the door but you need to be careful as they spring is very stong and you will neeed to wedge it open with a screwdriver. there is talk of the of the regs been relaxed on these type of closers
 
in what context is this self closing door located.....

let me give you a worst case scenario.....

fire breaks out,.... intergrity of the fire safety of the building diminished becaue 'someone' interferred with a self closing door,..... spread of fire doesnt give persons enough time (or ability) to escape,.... people die,..... 'someone' identified to police and charged with neglegence causing death.....
 
we have self-closing doors in our apt but there isn't a chain. when we moved in the builder showed us how to adjust the "hinge-thingy" (I think thats the technical term!! :) ) using an allen key. We didn't disable the self-closing just made it a bit slower so the doors don't slam shut on you. the hinges on our doors are something like this (couldn't find the exact same) - http://www.hooverfence.com/ornamental/hardware/nw093.htm
 
Syd,
That is a worse case senario but most people i know have taken that chance rather than have perko closers slamming shut the door, causing cracks to walls and loosing the tops of their fingers
 
well then they should replace the mechanism with one that doesnt slam. its no excuse for tampering with their integrity....
 
for whats its worth i found this link, the article is half down the page
[broken link removed]
 
well then they should replace the mechanism with one that doesnt slam. its no excuse for tampering with their integrity....
Perhaps they should be designed so they don't slam in the first place? Personally I wouldn't have them in my house as I keep the internal doors open all day. However, I do close the doors at night and have 2 smoke alarms.

Part of the reason I leave the doors open in daytime is because I once caught a ring on my finger in a door handle as I was closing it. I ended up in hospital with a very unpleasant injury - the doctor told me I was lucky, other people had lost fingers this way! :eek:
 
why would you have self closing doors in a house????

they are only required in public and semi public buildings (apartment blocks) to aid the safe removal of people in case of fire..... and maintain the fire resistance of an element of structure
 
These adjustable [broken link removed] might be an alternative to the guillotine... Perkos...
Leo
 
why would you have self closing doors in a house????

they are only required in public and semi public buildings (apartment blocks) to aid the safe removal of people in case of fire..... and maintain the fire resistance of an element of structure

Not true: required in some cases (e.g. if house has three stories).

I can understand someone wanting to adjust them, to ensure doors don't slam etc., but I find anyone wanting to disable them completely as truely misguided.

Building regs are there for a reason: in this case to save lives.

A bit late to change your mind on this when you've been found burnt to a crisp......
 
they were/are in place in almost all new apartments internally. By all means they should be left on teh front door but there is no need for them on the internal doors to a single floor apartment
 
they were/are in place in almost all new apartments internally. By all means they should be left on teh front door but there is no need for them on the internal doors to a single floor apartment

i can think of situation where they ARE needed.....

thankfully its not up to the occupier to determine their necessity.... its up to the fire safety certification........


and thanks for the correction ang1170..... forgot about that situation....
 
so you can think of situations where they are needed, have you an opinion when they are used throughout an apartment, and have you ever tried to adjust a perko closer
 
1. so you can think of situations where they are needed,

2. have you an opinion when they are used throughout an apartment,

3. and have you ever tried to adjust a perko closer

1. yes

2. if they are required to protect the occupanys in case of a fire then, i agree and understand their necessity

3. no. the OP wants to remove the self closing.. its this i have an issue with... not any augmentation of it...
 
many public building have elctrically operated self closing doors.... these would work fine in domestic and apartment situation (ie come into operation at the detection of a fire)...... but of course these are more expensive...

this thread is simply a result of a builder using the cheapest lowest tech installation..... if they are such a pain why not lobby to get them outlawed....
 
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